Self-Defense & Violence Prevention Blog

news and commentary about security, self-defense, and topics like violent crime prevention and bullying

Author Archive

At-Risk Youth Mentoring: a Proactive Approach

According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, juvenile arrest rates in the United States decreased 36 percent between 1996 and 2009. In 2009, there were 5,804 teenage arrests for every 100,000 youths ages 10 through 17 in the United States. This is great news, especially when you couple it with the statistic… Read More

A Million U.S. Gang Members

The number of gang members in the United States exceeded 1 million as of 2009. The top reasons for gang involvement are: low income learning disabilities and emotional disorders peer pressure 94% are male. Source: www.helpinggangyouth.com Unfortunately, it’s much harder to reach and save these kids and young men after they have entered a gang,… Read More

Study Confirms Long-Lasting Effects of Sexual Abuse

A recent article by MSNBC’s Joan Raymond informs us of results from a recent study about the long-lasting effects of sexual abuse. For 23 years, the study followed 80 girls who were victims of sexual abuse as children. Compared to the control group, they had distorted levels of cortisol–the stress hormone, levels which Dr. Frank… Read More

How Israelis Secure Airports Without Seeing You Naked

Michael Totten wrote an interesting article in the New York Post about airport security based on personal experience. I’m sure you have heard about the recent uproar in the United States about the Transportation Security Administration’s new procedure to use a machine to essentially see people naked or, if people refuse the machine, to actually… Read More

Death Penalty Facts

I created this blog several years ago to do my part in reducing the amount of violent victimization in society, such as murder, rape, battery and so forth. Unfortunately, sometimes murder is committed by the governments that we want to protect us. I remember the story of a teenage girl who was stoned to death… Read More

Another Danger of Prostitution Prohibition: AIDS

Just like with the historical prohibition of alcohol and the ongoing prohibition of drugs, I think prohibition of prostitution not only fails to prevent or reduce the occurrence of prostitution but greatly exacerbates the problems associated with it. Nationwide, the war on prostitution costs taxpayers billions of dollars annually. I’m not sure of the accuracy… Read More

Special Ed Student Brutally Attacked in School

Almost everyone wants to reduce the presence of murder, rape, assault and other violent aggression in our society. Indeed, protecting people from offensive violence is the point of this blog. Unfortunately, I just saw a disturbing video that reminds us that many times the ones from whom we need protection are the same police officers… Read More

Quotes about Forgiveness

I created this blog to inspire us all to exercise compassion in an effort to reduce and hopefully eliminate offensive violence and protect ourselves and others. We want to stop offensive violence such as murder, rape, assault, battery and kidnapping. I have pointed out before that the desire for revenge causes many of those acts… Read More

Self-Defense Items being Sold on this Site

I updated the homepage of this website to include links to and information about the following self-defense and violence prevention products that you can buy now:     The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker “teaches how to identify the warning signals of a potential attacker and recommends strategies for dealing with the problem before… Read More

The Movie Changeling and Corruption

I recently watched Changeling, a movie directed by Clint Eastwood starring Angelina Jolie. Based on actual events, it tells the story of a mother reunited with her missing son only to find out the boy is an impostor. Instead of helping the mother, the corrupt city authorities refuse to admit their mistake, choosing to call… Read More

Lockdown, USA, and How Drug Laws Increase Violence

A gentleman contacted me from Article 19 Films, who produce socially responsible documentary features. He told me about a documentary called Lockdown, USA that they recently released. It chronicles Hip-Hop impresario Russell Simmons’ campaign to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the controversial New York State laws created in 1973, which became the foundation to the… Read More